Diane Broberg, JK-12 Math Department Chair, challenged her Problem Solving in Physics students to harness the power of the sun. Their projects coordinated with the winter solstice in December, the darkest day of the year.
The students, with the help of Brian Purlee, Upper School Fine Arts, Maker and Robotics Coordinator & Science Teacher, designed and created fun projects in the Biggs Family Makerspace, attaching mini solar panels to power their creations through small motors. Our students were creative as usual, designing a rotating globe, a windmill bubble machine, a boat with a spinning propeller, and a Ferris wheel.
Given that they were testing their designs on the solstice, Broberg had them figure out the calculus based on the amount of light. They discovered that their motors ran better when the solar panels were outside versus inside, even with bright sunbeams shining through the windows. They also learned that sunlight at 8:30 a.m. is very different than sunlight at 11 a.m.
“Some students used AA batteries to test their motors, or amplified with a nine-volt,” Broberg said. “And there was a lot of troubleshooting. Did they have the right positive and negative leads lined up? Where is the circuit broken? That sort of thing.”
The students quickly learned from the process and had a good time. The spinning globe, for example, took 12 mini solar panels to run and went spinning off its axis at one point!
Well done, student scientists!